Question

You put a needle in someone's lung to find the shadow that was found in a screening. You want to take the tissue out and send it to pathology. But, the lung collapses and the patient needs to go to the hospital. In the end, you find out it was a false positive test. Why did this occur?

Answer 1

False positive test results can occur in screening procedures due to cross-reactivity or other factors such as lung infiltrations or physiological dead space.

Step-by-step explanation:

False positive test results can occur in screening procedures due to a variety of reasons. One possible reason is cross-reactivity, where epitopes from a different pathogen are similar to those found on the pathogen being tested for. This can lead to a positive result even if the person does not actually have the condition being screened for.

In the case of the lung shadow found in the screening, it could have been caused by factors such as lung infiltrations or physiological dead space, which can result in a false positive test.